Saturday 8 March 2008
Nationals Update
It astounds me that the CIS men's nationals are less than a week away and neither of the two Ottawa daily newspapers have had any pre-tournament stories. A quick check of both the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun showed absolutely nothing previewing tonight's OUA Wilson Cup championship at the Raven's Nest. And please don't blame either Wayne Kondro of the Ottawa Citizen or Neate Sager of the Ottawa Sun, both of who are proven supporters of CIS basketball. Expect games stories about tonight's game in both papers tomorrow and coverage to pick up after the brackets have been announced and the editors at both papers to hopefully start picking up on the solid work of both Kondro and Sager as the tournament draws nearer. Sources indicate that about 4,000 tournament packages have been sold and the organizing committee has begun selling individual session packages. Friday evening's session, which is very likely to include hometown and #1 ranked Carleton, should attract 10,000 or so fans however judging by the pre-sales, the brackets and which teams make it between now and Sunday night will determine how large attendance will be at the other sessions. The Capital Region is also nutorious for making last minute decisions on these types of events so expect a solid walk-up crowd as well. Sunday's uOttawa at Brock result is also likely to have some effect on ticket sales in the final week leading up to Friday's opening game, which goes at 11:30 AM at Scotiabank Place.... Incedentally, the four person committee which will select the at-large (wild card) team for Nationals consists of UNB's Thom Gillespe, Lethbridge head coach Mike Connolly, Bishop's outgoing boss Eddie Pomykala and McMaster's Joe Raso. The committee will be responsible for reviewing the criteria as set by the CIS and using the information to determine the final team to be invited to the Nationals. NABCC President James Hillis of Regina will also be on the call as the facilitator. The call takes place Sunday evening and we will publish the brackets Sunday night as soon as they become available.
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3 comments:
Allow me to confirm the reputation of Ottawa sports fans: They are notorious last-minute ticket purchasers with most teams in the city consisting of large walk up ticket buyers. Of the 8-9,000 people per game that watch the 67's (OHL), anywhere from a third to 40% buy tickets the day of the game. They will be a similar market to that which goes to the CIS Championships. Even the Senators, who average over 100% capacity each game, sell around 10-20% of their tickets in the last couple of days before game time, with the exception of their games against nearby rivals.
I would be very shocked if the final 8 does not draw well.Friday morning may be small but the rest will likely be 10,000-16,000.
I have been to many tournaments in Halifax and typically the early afternoon sessions draws a corporal's guard of fans.
If no local team was involved in those
1 PM-3 PM sessions, the crowds could be less than 500.
If the crowds in Kanata are small for the afternoon sessions, I wouldn't sweat it.
Like Halifax, this tournament will make it's money with the evening draws.
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